Fun French Lessons Students are Sure to Enjoy

Necessary Skills

These fun games and activities are suitable for a range of ages and abilities, and focus on developing and improving key skills such as description, conversation and word recognition.

These games are aimed at students who already have some vocabulary, and both speak and write some French. They should be able to ask and answer basic questions and hold a simple conversation.

Activity One

Learning Objective

To learn how to use descriptive vocabulary by giving thumbnail sketches of famous people.

Student Equipment Needed

Paper and pen

Pre Lesson Teacher Preparation Needed

Prepare an example to read out to students.

The Game

Ask each student to choose a famous person (actor, singer, etc.), but to keep his/her identity secret. They should then prepare five short statements describing their chosen person, with the information becoming increasingly obvious. For example, if the chosen person is Marilyn Monroe, the sentences could run:

Elle avait des cheveux blondes.

Elle était actrice de cinéma et chanteuse.

Elle était mariée trois fois.

Elle a changé son nom avant d’être célèbre.

Son film le plus bien connu était "Some Like It Hot."

After each statement, the rest of the group has the chance to guess who is being described. If no one guesses, then the group should ask questions of the student until the identity is revealed. The preparation for this activity also works well as a homework assignment.

Activity Two

Learning Objective

To build on the descriptive vocabulary used in Activity One.

Student Equipment Needed

Colored pencils

Pre Lesson Teacher Preparation Needed

On a sheet of paper, draw three ovals to represent stylized faces and add eyes, a nose and mouth. Your artwork can be very basic! Make a copy for each student.

The Game

Each student is given a piece of paper with three faces drawn on it. The teacher then gives the following instructions in English:

"You have witnessed a bank robbery, and the police need your help in making an Identi-kit picture of the three suspects. As the description is read out, please draw the appropriate features onto the faces."

The teacher should then read out in French a description of the three men, giving eye color, beard or mustache color, headgear, glasses, etc., while the student puts the details on the drawing with colored pencils. Example descriptions could be:

Il portrait une casquette rouge avec un petit insigne.

Il avait des yeux gris et portrait des lunettes.

Afterwards, the teacher can ask students to compare drawings and then go through the correct description. This activity also works well for younger age groups if the descriptions are kept very simple.

Activity Three

Learning Objective

To improve listening and word recognition skills.

Student Equipment Needed

Pen

Pre Lesson Teacher Preparation Needed

Select a number of French songs. These can be very simple or more complicated, depending on the age group and ability of the students. An excellent resource for French songs is the Songs For Teaching website (a link is available in the References section at the end of this article).

Write out the lyrics on a sheet of paper, omitting several words of your choice. For example, for the song A la claire fontaine, you should end up with something like:

A la claire _________,

M'en allant promener

J'ai trouvé ____ si ______

Que je m'y suis baigné

Refrain :Il y a _______ que je t'aime______ je ne t'oublierai

You will also need to be able to play the music, via a computer or CD player.

The Game

Each student is given a worksheet with one or more songs. The teacher should play the song through once, then play it again, this time asking the students to fill in the missing words.

This activity is not as easy as it looks, as the words are being sung rather than spoken, so the students will have to listen intently!

These fun French lesson plans will help you keep your language lessons fresh and interesting, and teach practical language skills in an approachable way.